Rosemary T

March, 2006

Life has been joyful for Rosemary since we collectively heard from her in September. Timothy’s fiancée, Naz, finally told her Moslem parents about him, and the wedding just took place in Cardiff. To quote Rosemary, “The wedding went extremely well and we moved from a fairly frosty reception at the parental home by Naz’s three brothers to much friendship, laughter and a visit to Timothy and Naz’s new home after the Nikah and reception on the Sunday.

All our family went out of their way to build bridges, and the Immam was a delightful, frail, elderly man with a lovely sense of humour, so that helped a lot. Naz looked stunningly beautiful in a fuchsia pink and pale turquoise, beaded and embroidered wedding dress." Rosemary, this just begs for photographs!

This happy occasion took place right after the birth of Rosemary’s long-awaited new grandson, William, to her daughter Naomi in Huddersfield.

Rosemary is clearly busy. She wrote of a Burns Night Supper and Ceilidh she organised (for 160 people) and of her plans to go as a delegate to the Camillian Conference in Rome. Sadly she will be unable to make the reunion on May 6, because she is part of a group hosting a cultural exchange visit with the emphasis on disability, part of a Grundtvig programme. She also very generously offered to host an alternative reunion in Hexham. That sounds most attractive.

September, 2005

I have an overactive imagination, so when Rosemary told me some time ago that her son Matthew had met a girl from Michigan at Durham, I had visions of a lovely wedding in Michigan, with Rosemary and her family flying in and lots of parties! Alas, that’s not how the world works, the romance is over and I must come down to earth. It would have been nice.

Rosemary has been wonderful about answering my questions. I asked about Hexham. Here’s her reply. “It is the most desirable place in the country to live! A market town of about 12,000 people, full of historical and beautiful stone buildings. Our house is quite central. i.e. walkable distance to the town with its library, cinema and theatre, and shops. Loads of wonderful gift shops—you can get just about anything you might need in Hexham, although people used to large shopping centres trail into Newcastle or the Gateshead MetroCentre and probably end up buying in Hexham. Newcastle and Gateshead are going for European Capital of Culture bid for 2005. Hope we are successful. Just come and visit! Hexham Abbey was founded in 675 AD and Hadrian’s Wall is very near. Have I convinced you?"

This spring, I asked for an update on her children. I remember the oldest so well from visits to Cincinnati. Jonathan, Melissa and Naomi are married. It sounds like Jonathan hosts many family get-togethers. “Susan (his wife) is very good at it though.” Timothy is “engaged to Naz who is Moslem and dare not tell her parents about him. She lives at home in the same city, Cardiff, so it is a clandestine relationship. Francis and Fran have been going out for nearly ten years; they don't live together because they both like their jobs, and their jobs are in different parts of the country! Francis may be the one to move if he can find a suitable job. Simon is two thirds through his first year of teaching, but has been somewhat unsure that it is for him. Partly I think he is suffering from a kind of bereavement of student life, so I hope that he will give it one more year.” As for her youngest, Matthew, he “is nearing the end of his second year of Physics at Durham. He is enjoying it, but finding revision for this year's exams very hard. He has to decide whether to do a three year or four year degree. At the moment, he thinks he will do three years and go for mega bucks as a computer programmer.”

I also asked for details of Rosemary’s grandchildren. She filled me in: “Jonathan and Susan have three children: George 11, Daniel nearly 9 and Fenella nearly 4. Melissa and Jamie have four children: Alicia 11, Emily nearly 10, Harry nearly 8 and Benjamin 5.”

After providing me with all this information, Rosemary didn’t have much to say about herself, except, “With all these projects that I am involved with, I am very busy. It is the homeless people one which has caused huge headaches for the past year; it was staff, and now it is service users! Oh well!” If you Google Rosemary, you will get an idea of her undertakings. Perhaps you can give us some background and details of your work, Rosemary, as an up-date.